Dear Guests,
Welcome to TEDxTupper Lake! We are thrilled to have you join us in celebrating the powerful ideas and unique perspectives across the Adirondack region. Today’s event features 12 thought-provoking talks by 13 incredible speakers, all centered around the theme of Natural Connections. We invite you to listen with curiosity, reflect deeply, and allow these talks to spark conversations throughout the day.
We also want to extend our heartfelt thanks to The Wild Center, this beautiful venue nestled in the heart of Tupper Lake, and the Adirondack Mountains. This extraordinary space, where humans and nature meet, embodies the spirit of today’s theme. The connections formed and ideas shared here are not only special to the Adirondacks but are vital for fostering a more sustainable and interconnected world.
As you experience today’s program, take a moment to pause and appreciate the tranquility of our surroundings. The peace and beauty of this natural setting offer a perfect backdrop for the ideas shared on the TEDxTupper Lake stage, presented locally and shared far beyond.
Thank you for being part of this experience. We hope today leaves you feeling inspired and deeply connected—to each other, nature, and the world around you.
Warm regards,
Jen Hesseltine & Kim Preshoff
TED-Ed
Innovative Educators
Co-organizers, TEDxTupper Lake
SCHEDULE
1:00 to 2:00 PM Guest Arrival, Registration, and Seating Seating opens at 1:30 PM
2:00 to 3:30 PM Session 1
Welcome: Leanne Favreau and Nick Gunn
Speaker Katsitsionni Fox
Speaker Michale Glennon
Speaker Jenna Audlin
Speaker Blake & Tzintzun
3:30 to 4:00 PM Intermission
4:00 to 5:30 PM Session 2
Speaker Tyler Dezago
Speaker Keeley Jock
Speaker Echo
Speaker Cammy Sheridan
Speaker Rose Beauchamp
Interludes
Thawing Trails: Adirondack Skiing
Amidst Climate Change
Wild Center Creature Feature
Interludes
Video Postcards
Sorbet
Thai Chi Session with Josy D
5:30 to 7:00 PM Evening Reception
Delicious Food, Cold Drinks, Good Conversation, and Awesome People
7:00 to 8:00 PM Session 3
Speaker Randi Renate
Speaker Stephanie Ashenfelder
Speaker Curt Stager
8:00 PM Send off
Interludes
Video Postcards
MEET OUR SPEAKERS
KATSITSIONNI FOX
Artist, Filmmaker, and Educator
Haudenosaunee Thanksgiving Address & A Dish with One Spoon
Katsitsionni Fox is an artist, filmmaker and educator from the Mohawk Territory of Akwesasne. Her films are focused on empowering stories of resilient Indigenous women. Her award-winning documentary films include Ohero: Kon Under the Husk (2016) and Without a Whisper – Konnon: Kwe (2020). She directed the Indigenous Women’s Voices Series focused on the healing and empowerment of Native women, released in 2020. Her most recent film is Kanenon:we – Original Seeds, a documentary following three Haudenosaunee women reclaiming their ancient role as seed keepers, regenerating, protecting and rematriating sacred and endangered heirloom seeds for the future generations.
MICHALE GLENNON Wildlife Ecologist, Fiber Artist
Wool and Water: Stitching Water’s Story with Fiber Art
Michale Glennon is the director of Wool and Water, a project of the Adirondack Watershed Institute at Paul Smith’s College.
Wool and Water is a collaborative project that blends fiber art with scientific information to create visual representations of changing water quality conditions in the Adirondacks and Lake Champlain Basin. Knitting, crochet, weaving and other fiber arts are used to illustrate concepts and trends related to our waterways, and to provide inspiration for their protection.
As a Senior Research Scientist at the Adirondack Watershed Institute, Dr. Glennon uses wildlife as a tool for understanding threats to ecological integrity and watershed health. She helps provide leadership to AWI’s scientific research program, support high quality research opportunities for students, and advocate for science in support of the management and stewardship of the natural resources of the Adirondack Park. She grew up in Lake Placid, NY and lives in Ray Brook with her husband, Scott, 2 kids, 1 horse, 1 goat, and 1 housecat.
JENNA AUDLIN
Author, Student Inspiring Youth Engagement in the Adirondacks
Jenna Audlin is a high school student and author of The Explore More Challenge, an activity book for kids and families. They are passionate about encouraging children to explore nature and are pursuing a career in environmental education. Audlin’s work has already sparked the interest of young readers and outdoor enthusiasts, and they continue to develop new projects aimed at inspiring future generations to connect with the environment in meaningful ways.
BLAKE AND TZINTZUN
Storytellers, Movement Weavers
We are Nature: Ecocentric Narratives
Blake and Tzintzun (both they/them) are two storytellers and movement weavers currently living in the Kaniatarowanénhne/ Upper St. Lawrence River Valley, at the foothills of the Adirondack Mountains, Haudenosaunee Territory. Through their work with the environmental storytelling group Talking Wings, they have organized numerous conferences, curated in person and virtual art exhibitions, and produced visual storytelling pieces that share the voices of Land and Water. The story-making duo also helped found the nonprofit Talking Rivers, Inc., an organization that educates human communities about the Rights and Rites of rivers and their ecosystems. In collaboration with Talking Rivers, they are currently working with humans across the Adirondack Watersheds to create ecocentric governance systems that meet Nature’s needs.
TYLER DEZAGO
Musician, Educator, Storyteller
Stories to Tell: Honoring Tradition through Songwriting
Tyler Dezago is a fiddler, guitarist, music educator and songwriter rooted in American Traditional Music. As a songwriter, Tyler brings new repertoire to the genre, continuing the tradition of sharing stories centered around place, people, and the adversities they faced.
His current work focuses on the lives of Adirondack people from the last 200 years. His songwriting is detail-rich and brings listeners back in time to the days before the Adirondacks were a vacationland.
He is a member of High on the Hog Stringband and Strawberry Wine Trio and performs regularly across the Adirondacks and Upstate NY.
KEELEY JOCK
Environmentalist, Climate Justice Fellow
Reviving Wetlands with Indigenous Knowledge
Keeley Jock grew up in Akwesasne, as an enrolled member of the Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe and Mohawk Council of Akwesasne. From her strong belief in the Seven Generations philosophy taught to them at a young age, it moved them to obtaining a B.S. in Environmental Science from Paul Smith’s College, with the dream of doing something bigger than herself in this world. With a keen interest in wetland ecology and botany, Keeley wrote their undergraduate thesis on Indigenous Knowledge informing EPA standard wetland assessments to help improve regulations for highly impacted/less pristine wetlands. As a recent graduate, she is starting off her future with beginning work at ANCA beginning in 2024, as a Climate Justice Fellow through a NYSERDA grant program. Out of the office you may find them skiing, reading, drinking coffee, or picking up any other random hobby.
ECHO
Artist, Creator, Learner
The Curious Shall Be Rewarded
Echo is the co-founder of The Station in Onchiota, NY. The Station is an experimental art space dedicated to amplifying and supporting creative culture. The Station exists to broaden people’s perspectives by introducing them to new experiences, people, and art forms.
Echo has a college degree. However, his primary education comes from a lifetime of participation in DIY culture and various music scenes across America in military bases, suburban wastelands, urban centers, artist communities, off-grid homesteads, and small towns. Raising two amazing teenage boys with his partner probably qualifies him for some kind of Doctorate.
Some of Echo’s regional creations include the Carnival of Light projection art festival, The Invisible Creatures Petting Zoo, and Summer Sessions. In previous versions of his life Echo has worked as a team building facilitator, a construction worker, a DJ, a wilderness trip leader for at-risk youth, a stagehand, a barista, and other odd occupations.
CAMMY SHERIDAN Professor of Social Science
Strength in Unity: Transforming Lives through Connection and Support
Cammy is a professor and disabilities specialist for North Country Community College. A native of the region, Cammy has a special interest in promoting the well-being of the people who reside in the Adirondacks and finding symbiosis between the natural environment and those who call the Adirondack Mountains home. Cammy has served and continues to serve on various boards such as Lake Placid Board of Education, Essex County Community Services Board, JohnBrownLives! and ADKAction, with focuses on education, mental health, environmental and social issues that impact the Park and its residents. Cammy splits her time between Lake Placid and Upper Saranac Lake, where she skis, paddles, hikes and enjoys the outdoors with her family and friends.
ROSE BEAUCHAMP
Dance Artist, Improviser, Filmmaker, Activist, Educator Embodied Earth: Reconnecting with the Land through Movement
Rose Pasquarello Beauchamp—dancer, educator, and activist—centers her research somatics, social justice, dance as change agent and the embodiment of activism. Her choreographic work has been featured internationally for the past 17 years. She has been selected for residencies and projects including the NYS Dance Force Western NY Choreographers’ Initiative. Rose co-founded Artists Coalition for Change Together (ACCT), an organization active from 2016-2020, as a way to engage dancer-citizens in Rochester. She has received multiple grants from the Center for Community Engagement and serves as a Faculty Fellow with a focus on creative work in community-engaged settings. As of late, her creative work has centered on site specific, interdisciplinary work that unearths invisible histories through embodiment. Rose continues to perform and present with a focus on the relationship between the body and the environment, the role the body plays in environmental justice, and climate change.
RANDI RENATE
Artist, Sculptor, Naturalist
Some Kind of Blue: Neural Design, Art, and Interconnectivity
Randi Renate was born ‘en caul,’ intact inside the amniotic sac, in San Antonio, TX. Her artwork choreographs bodies within a sculptural framework to investigate how the ‘micro’ of the individual weaves into the ‘macro’ of the collective whole.
Randi received her BFA Studio Art and BA Philosophy from the University of Texas at Austin in 2014. She is a 2020 MFA graduate of the Sculpture Department at the Yale School of Art. She is the recipient of numerous fellowships including Socrates Sculpture Park in Queens, NY, Lighthouse Works on Fishers Island, NY, Bemis Center for Contemporary Art in Omaha, NE, Vermont Studio Center in Johnson, VT, Santa Fe Art Institute, NM, and Sculpture Space in Utica, NY. Her 2021 permanent public sculpture, “blue is the atmospheric refraction I see you through,” was made in part by a NYS Council of the Arts Grant and featured in Interior Design Magazine, while her 2022 Socrates Sculpture Park commision was featured in Sculpture Magazine. Randi produces the podcast CORALESCENCE: conversations highlighting the connection between art and science. Her studio practice is currently based in the Adirondacks.
STEPHANIE ASHENFELDER
Storyteller, Educator, Artist
Art and Storytelling: Deepening Environmental Connection and Inspiring Climate Action
Stephanie’s work centers on socially conscious, interdisciplinary, collaborative projects that integrate art, design, and community building. She co-directs Watershed Movements, which earned a $50K award to fund a yearlong exploration of how storytelling and art might enhance our connection to watersheds. In 2022, her collaboration with students and the Memorial Art Gallery in Rochester, NY, secured a $100K grant from Verizon and NYC Media Labs for innovative edtech. Her ongoing work on ADKClimateStories.org, aims to promote climate action by highlighting our humanity, sharing and reflecting on the local consequences of climate change.
At the University of Rochester, Stephanie teaches experiential, project-based design courses and serves as the Director of Digital Media Studies. More at stephanieashenfelder.com.
CURT STAGER
Scientist, Educator, Author
Uniting for Change: The Community Impact of Renaming John Thomas Brook
Curt Stager is a scientist, educator, and author whose research and outreach deals with climate change, human connections to the natural world, and environmental history in Africa, the Adirondacks, and elsewhere. His work has been published in prominent journals, including Science and Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, his writings for the public have appeared in periodicals such as National Geographic and The New York Times, and he co-hosted Natural Selections, a weekly science program on North Country Public Radio, for 30 years. Curt is also the author of four books, most recently “Still Waters: The Secret World of Lakes.” He currently teaches natural sciences at Paul Smith’s College, where he holds the Draper-Lussi endowed Chair in Paleoecology and Lake Ecology. In 2013, the Carnegie-Case Foundation named him Science Professor of the Year for New York State.
More at wikipedia.org/wiki/Curt_Stager.
